Flail Mower Let's talk flail mowers

[whirly]

Those are finish blades. “Bent” or L shaped rough cut blades might be dulled but don’t bend with rock strikes as they are mounted via a clevis rather than directly to the rotor mount.

Correct. However the OP installed "96" fine cut blades which would have been L blades. The blades in the picture were my first set and that is what they looked like AFTER I managed to find all of the rocks and debris in my fields. Surprising enough, even bent they did a pretty good job in their last pass on pastures and the horses never complained about the cut.

 

[RoyJackson]

Nope, usually will pick up debris, roll it over the drum and drop it back to the ground. Much safer in populated areas.

Yep...and that's why we see a lot more flail mowers used for roadside and highway median mowing nowadays.

 

[ArmyDoc]

I worried if people were within a few hundred yards of my old rotary cutter & would keep the dog locked up. I don't care if my dog wander around or gets within a few dozen yards of the flail.worst case I've seen a rock make it 4-8' when mowing at scalping height (intentionally). Lots of sparks if I accidentally mow rocks, but no real projectile danger. And thats the main reason I'm looking at another flail instead of a rotary for my next heavier mower.

I'm considering a utility tractor, that has a front PTO and buying a vrisimo hammer flail and mounting it up front. It seems the ideal solution for clearing volunteer sweet gum along the edges of the property. Any one have any thoughts on this?

 

[3 Horse Ranch]

Thanks Leon
The blades I removed were in sorry shape, I wasn't joking when I said it looked like the previous owner used it to mow a rock garden. The photo is just a sample of what I removed and is pretty representative of what was on the machine when I got it.

I used Rustoleum HiVis Blue on the body of the mower but I thought black looked better on the attachment structure. I think it cleaned up pretty well.
I had to apply the lettering by hand using the outline that showed through the new paint. Doesn't look too bad from 15 feet away.

 

[whirly]

I stand corrected:shocked:

 

[vvanders]

Yep...and that's why we see a lot more flail mowers used for roadside and highway median mowing nowadays.

Yup, that's why I bought one. We've got some neighbors nearby and I could never forgive myself if I sent a rock through their living room window and hurt someone.

 

[lostcreekranch]

Thanks Leon
The blades I removed were in sorry shape, I wasn't joking when I said it looked like the previous owner used it to mow a rock garden. The photo is just a sample of what I removed and is pretty representative of what was on the machine when I got it.

I used Rustoleum HiVis Blue on the body of the mower but I thought black looked better on the attachment structure. I think it cleaned up pretty well.
I had to apply the lettering by hand using the outline that showed through the new paint. Doesn't look too bad from 15 feet away.View attachment 525066View attachment 525067

Nice refurb!

 

[3 Horse Ranch]

Thanks Rick, it was fun, frustrating and rewarding. It is the first project I've done since I retired this past July. I am really enjoying getting my hands dirty fixing major things like this as well as the minor fixes and upgrades, and personalization of owning a tractor and implements.

 

[leonz]

I'm considering a utility tractor, that has a front PTO and buying a vrisimo hammer flail and mounting it up front. It seems the ideal solution for clearing volunteer sweet gum along the edges of the property. Any one have any thoughts on this?

As long as you have a utility tractor in mind that has a mid point PTO and you can obtain the mounting hardware for it from Vrisimo or the mule dealer to set it up as a front mount/front discharge flail mower you will have a good mower to use.

You have to check with the Vrisimo folks in California to see if they offer a front mount option for the size flail mower you want before you progress further with this as you may be better off with an offset rear mounted flail mower with actual "cast" flail hammers.

 

[IslandTractor]

Caroni mowers can be adapted for front mount use. Not sure if it is a specific model or more likely some adapter hardware but they showed one in their catalog a while back.